Will Google’s New Dynamic Search Ads Change the Way Brands Advertise?

Google announced a redesign coming to its popular Google AdWords program called Dynamic Search Ads last week. While the program is still in beta, Google is claiming that Dynamic Search Ads have been in development for two and a half years and just might change the entire way Google sells advertising in the future.

Dynamic Search Ads will be generated for advertisers based on the content found on the websites where the advertiser wants to send customers. Google reports that advertisers in the beta program are seeing 5-10% increases in clicks and conversions for Dynamic Search Ads and a “satisfactory ROI.” Advertisers won’t have to give up their traditional keyword ads through Google AdWords to use Dynamic Search Ads. Currently, Google is marketing Dynamic Search Ads as a complement to keyword-targeted advertising.

When an advertiser participates in the Dynamic Search Ads program, the advertiser selects the website content to target its ads. Google indexes pages in the program and dynamically generates an ad when a person conducts a relevant search. The ad will include a headline based on the person’s search query and the text of the ad will “be based on your most relevant landing page.” Once the ad is generated, it enters the auction process and completes using the normal AdWords process but if the advertiser already has an eligible keyword-targeted ad in the pipeline, the keyword ad will be used.

Advertisers can choose whether they want to target their whole websites, specific categories of products on their sites, pages with specific keywords, or pages with certain text in the URL. Furthermore, advertisers can use many of the features used in traditional AdWords campaigns, such as adding negatives, accessing reports, and more.

Advertisers can get on the Dynamic Search Ads interest list by signing up online or larger advertisers can contact their Google account representatives directly.

It’s certainly not surprising that Google is heading in this direction — it’s not the first time the company has tried something like Dynamic Search Ads. The trick is to convince advertisers that giving up some control to Google is a good idea. Only performance metrics will determine whether Dynamic Search Ads are truly a good idea or not. For consumers, Dynamic Search Ads would be a coup if they resulted in fewer spam ads, higher quality ads, and more relevant ads.

What do you think of Google Dynamic Search Ads? Will it change how brands advertise online as Google suggests? Leave a comment and share your thoughts on what Google is referring to as “the future” of AdWords.

Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.

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